CQI South Anglia marks relaunch with a lesson on engagement

The CQI’s South Anglia branch held a relaunch event on ‘Business Excellence through Employee Engagement’ on 10 May at the Anglia Ruskin University in Chelmsford, UK.

Kevin Newey, Engineering Assurance Director at Arm Ltd, based in Cambridge, gave the attendees an insight into why employee engagement cannot be imposed from above and requires a cultural shift in the way organisations behave.

“Cultural shifts can be hard and will take time to embed successfully,” said Newey. “They require constant communication, both top-down and bottom-up, and reinforcement by top management who need to live the new culture not just pay lip service to it. It also requires a sensitivity that the current culture exists for a reason. It has likely helped the organisation be successful up to this point; people will identify with it on an emotional level, and will need support through any change.”

Newey also discussed how leadership needs to have a clear vision of the future, communicate this to employees and empower them to achieve it. It is important to allow employees to air their views and for leadership to fulfil their promises. There was a lively debate on this, especially when the subject of employee surveys was discussed.

“I was really pleased how enthusiastic everyone in the room was about the topic,” he said. “Quality professionals sometimes have the reputation for being clipboard wielding checklist-warriors, obsessed with procedure. That’s something we need to change. It’s the right combination of people, processes and infrastructure that leads to an effective management system. Delivering insight to management on this theme requires us to work with HR (human resources) departments in new and exciting ways.”

The event was closed by Caroline Whitson, CQI Professional Networks Manager. Some attendees volunteered to set up an initial committee. The branch looks forward to holding more engaging events in the future.